Recently we attended the annual BookExpo America trade show, the largest publishing gathering in the country, to promote our current and forthcoming Fall 2011 titles. The reception this year was quite spectacular, and many of our authors–Tayari Jones (Silver Sparrow), Jon Michaud (When Tito Loved Clara), Martha Southgate (A Taste of Salt), Heidi Durrow (TheContinue reading

Algonquin Books Senior Editor Kathy Pories talks about the Bellwether Prize, the publication prize founded by Barbara Kingsolver to recognize literature that addresses issues of social justice. Algonquin published two Bellwether Prize winners–Hillary Jordan‘s Mudbound and Heidi Durrow‘s The Girl Who Fell from the Sky–to great success. Mudbound has over 170,000 copies in print andContinue reading

April 21, 2011 – The circus came to town Or at least it seemed like it: The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth was larger than life on the big screen, here in Chapel Hill at the Lumina Theater. The Thursday before the Friday premiere of the Water For Elephants movie (based on SaraContinue reading

Five years ago, I stood on the periphery of the Duke University Chapel during the North Carolina Literary Festival, straining to hear the speaker. I was on the periphery because the chapel was packed full, so that many of us had spilled outside the large cathedral doors. On the stage, about the size of myContinue reading

We’re big fans of the Triangle’s newest independent bookstore, Flyleaf Books, conveniently located a mere seven minutes from our office. On more than once lunch break, I’ve slipped out of the office to peruse their fantastically stocked shelves. We were absolutely thrilled that Flyleaf recently hosted an Algonquin Book Club evening with special guest HeidiContinue reading

I am the unlikeliest person to be reading this book, for three reasons: 1) as anyone who knows me well can report, I have a certain deficiency in the housekeeping department; 2) I’m more inclined to be buried in a work of fiction than nonfiction; 3) If I were to be reading nonfiction, chances areContinue reading